Advertisment

Aleppo is the worst-hit area in Syria's earthquake

author-image
BNN Correspondents
Updated On
New Update

Syria's war-torn city of Aleppo is one of the places to have borne the brunt of the deadly earthquake, which also devastated parts of southern Turkey.

Advertisment

The region is home to millions of refugees displaced by the civil war.

Control of northern Syria is divided between the government, Kurdish-led forces and other rebel groups. They remain embroiled in conflict.

Even before the earthquake, the situation in much of the region was critical, with freezing weather, crumbling infrastructure and a cholera outbreak causing misery for many of those who live there.

Advertisment

Much of Aleppo was destroyed in the civil war, which broke out in 2011 when a peaceful uprising against President Bashar al-Assad turned into violence.

While there have been efforts to rebuild the city - Syria's pre-war commercial hub - there is dilapidated infrastructure, plus destroyed buildings, and power outages are common.

According to separate figures from the Syrian government and the White Helmets rescue group, which operates in rebel-controlled areas, more than 1,600 people have died in the region so far after the earthquake.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) at a depth of 17.9km (11 miles) near the Turkish city of Gaziantep. Twelve hours later, a second quake, which was nearly as large, struck 130km (80 miles) to the north.

Advertisment
Advertisment